Aftermath
by JAK Kinase
Summary: After Zuko and Katara announce their marriage  and break-up with their respective partners  Toph goes to give Katara a pep talk. Because she's awesome. Zutara. One-shot. Complete. Rated T to be safe.


Disclaimer: I do not own.

Author's Notes: Written up for a role-play forum where Zutara had become canon. Toph would have totally tried to play therapist for Katara.

* * *

It was past midnight. Anyone else would have knocked.

Toph just stomped right into Katara's guest room, bending away the stone walls instead of bothering with the door.

"I hope you're decent-ish," the earthbender informed Katara blithely as she closed the impromptu hole in Zuko's palace with a small fa-woosh sound. "Wouldn't want Twinkletoes to get the news that the love of his life was cheating on him with _two_ of his best friends." She considered this. "Ex-best friends. Maybe even ex-sifus."

Silence answered. And not just a stony, disgruntled one either. Katara was honestly trying to fool the greatest earthbender in the world.

Pfft.

"I know you're awake, lover girl."

Another silence. This time the toes on Toph's right foot tapped irritably as she waited for the waterbender to say her piece.

For the record, she knew it wouldn't be terribly impressive.

"Toph," mumbled an indistinct mass of blankets and pillows. It shifted slowly as Katara pulled the blankets over her head and turned away from the door. "Please go away."

Toph gave this idea all the two seconds of consideration it deserved.

"Striiiiike one, Sweetness. Care to try again?"

Katara muttered something that was about as plain as one of Sokka's surprise stews.

"Striiiiike two. Once we hit four, we're saying hello to horse stance and earthquakes."

"I _said_ I didn't mean for it be this way," the waterbender said, voice still muffled but words properly enunciated.

"Yeah, well, tough. That stunt you two pulled was a spectacularly stupid way to break the news, Sugar Queen." Toph said bluntly. "It's like you were _trying_ to hurt him."

"I didn't _want_ to hurt him." Katara snapped. "I just-" There was a breath of a pause before she changed tactics. "Look. Just – just leave me alone right now."

Toph idly picked at her fingernails before answering. "Nupe. Not gonna happen."

"Toph, I can't," and then the water tribe girl finally touched the ground where Toph could feel her breathing hitch and her way-too-fast pulse drum merrily away at nothing at all. And that weaker, precious little presence that was making life so _complicated_.

Katara dragged a hand through ragged hair. "I really can't handle this right now."

She was being sincere.

"Well, you're going to have to try." Toph said lightly. "So. What happened? How did it all go down?"

"I… we…"

* * *

Toph blinked.

"Wow. That was _way_ more information than I needed."

Katara's heart beat had finally gone down to something approaching normal.

"Gee. _Thanks_ Toph."

"Hey, I'm not saying it wasn't hot. Just _way_ more information than I needed."

There was a moment of silence before the blind earthbender asked, wistful: "So you guys really did the chocolate thing with firebending and waterbend-"

"Oh for spirits sake yes. Now _hush._"

"It's not like anyone can _hear_ us-"

Katara harrumfed.

"Okay, okay." Toph said, hands up in a placating gesture. Sometime during the story telling she'd creeped closer and closer until she'd simply flopped onto Katara's bed, feet dangling onto the ground below. "So, it was love-love-love." She paused, apparently trying to be diplomatic for once. "How come you and Zuko didn't-?"

"Zuko... didn't want to hurt Mai."

Toph snorted. "Yeah. Well that worked out great. He's probably going to have to worry more about her hurting _him._"

"And there were the politics – you know how nobles get."

"And and and? If that was all that was stopping _me_ I woulda spat in their soup."

The waterbender's voice became very, very small. "I... I didn't think it was love."

Toph was momentarily struck speechless.

"Katara. You kept on finding reasons to go shag the FIRE LORD in his BROOM CLOSETS. Tell me you're not this stupid."

"It was just a passing thing. Lust. Not love."

"A passing thing." Toph's voice was particularly flat.

"Yes! No. I don't know."

"So today-?"

"We said our good-byes. After that we wouldn't see each other anymore. It wouldn't be right. But then I told Zuko about the baby and-"

* * *

The sitting room was silent. For a moment, they were the only two people in the world.

"I have a child." Zuko said softly.

Katara nodded, a little sadly. "I thought you should know."

"I... I have... a _child_." He sat down, crimson robes pooling around him. He looked oddly vulnerable. Katara reached out to touch him – but then drew back. They had said their good-byes.

And she didn't know if he she could pull back again.

"I'll… tell Aang. Something." She forced herself to laugh. "It'll be okay. You know how he is."

Zuko bowed his head. The knuckles on his hands stood out as he clenched and unclenched his robes. When he spoke, his voice was brittle.

"I'm just like my father."

Katara shook her head. No no _no_. What was he _thinking?_

"Zuko don't say that! You're _nothing_ like your father." She kneeled in front of him, awkward robes not allowing her to simply sit. She'd forgotten her resolution not to touch him. "Zuko, look at me."

Zuko raised his head.

"You're _not_ your father."

His mismatched eyes were hard. "I'm abandoning you. I'm abandoning my child. All because of some _stupid_ crown that's on my head." He reached up, as if to take it off, throw it away but didn't.

His voice was broken.

"How am I _not_?"

* * *

"And then he decided to do what was 'right.'" Toph finished.

Katara nodded.

Toph threw her hands into the air.

"OH. MY. GOD. How is it that your dork of a brother who _still_ forgets I'm blind can come up with better plans than the Fire Lord and the girl who defeated _Azula_ of the blue fire, the conqueror of Ba Sing Se?"

"Errr-"

"You guys suck. No, you do not just suck, you guys suck _hardcore._ You could not suck more if you'd realized that the balance of the world depended on one kid who was twelve and decided that the best thing to do would be to kidnap his pet and-"

"Did you just compare us to Long Feng and the Dai Li?"

Toph ignored the interruption.

"-_and_ send him off on wild goose chases while your best chance to end the war goes marching by. You could not suck more if you were _sandbenders_ (and sandbenders, _totally_ suck just so you know) in fact, you could not suck more if you were thieving, scavenging sandbenders who sold Appa for _meat_ and thought Momo looked good in a taxidermy shop along with some big poofy owl of doom who sunk his library because of some hissy-fit and- and – and-"

Toph took a deep breath.

"And you _suck_."

"Alright, we suck." Katara said, dryly. "I think I got that. Anything else?"

"At least you figured your crap out. I'll give you that." Toph said, giving the waterbender a friendly whack on the shoulder. Katara winced. "You guys did a stupid thing, but, no alright, a REALLY stupid thing but at least you got your act together in the end. You were honest, you were hopeless and you were idiots. You could have stayed put and been miserable, but you picked up your happiness and ran with it."

"But still. You should have told him," Toph said seriously. "Before this… all… happened."

"He's not going to forgive me, is he?" Katara asked softly.

"Oh he will," Toph replied, matter-of-fact. "He has a big heart. Maybe the biggest. Spirits know that if it were _my_ family…" The earthbender trailed off. "Anyway. He will. You'll just have to give him time."

"Thanks. Toph."

"Spirits know you don't deserve _my_ help," Toph said superiorly. "But…" She got off the bed, heading to the other side of the room. "But I guess we all deserve-"

"What... Toph?"

"I said _good night_, Sweetness."

And with a little fa-woosh, as abruptly as she had entered, the earthbender disappeared.


End file.
